Indiana Jones Star Almost Wasn’t in the Final Movie: “A Terrible Mistake”

Indiana Jones producers can only say “I’m sorry” so many times. 2023’s Dial of Destiny — the fifth and final installment of the Indiana Jones franchise — whipped up one last globe-trotting adventure for Harrison Ford‘s eponymous archeologist, the first not to be directed by longtime helmer Steven Spielberg. After Spielberg passed the reins to James Mangold (Logan, A Complete Unknown), screenwriter David Koepp (who wrote 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) also exited Indiana Jones 5. Mangold then tapped Ford v Ferrari scribes Jez and John-Henry Butterworth to co-write the script.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny reunited Ford with Indy’s estranged wife Marion (Karen Allen) and good friend Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), both of whom first appeared in 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. But in sending Indiana Jones off into the sunset one last time, Mangold’s version originally excluded Allen’s character.

“When Steven was gonna direct [Indiana Jones 5], I was majorly [featured]. It was about us, Indy and Marion,” Allen revealed during a recent panel appearance at Connecticut’s Terrificon. “But then when he stepped to the side and they went off in a different direction — I think I can say this now because it’s been some time — I wasn’t in the original script that they finished when James Mangold [came aboard].

“When he finished the script, I wasn’t in it at all. It was communicated to me, and I said, ‘You’re making a terrible mistake,’” she continued. Allen then penned a letter to Mangold, producer Kathleen Kennedy, and executive producer Spielberg, writing, “‘You’re making a terrible mistake.’”

“‘Marion is such a vital, interesting, wonderful character you created, you can’t just let her disappear. You can’t just let her disappear into the ether,’” Allen recounted. “And I got a phone call the next day and Kathy Kennedy said, ‘You’re absolutely right. I don’t know why we thought it was okay to do that.’”

Allen previously reprised her role in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which revealed Indy fathered Marion’s son, Henry “Mutt” Williams (Shia LaBeouf). The Spielberg-directed fourth installment ended with Indy and Marion tying the knot, but by Dial of Destiny in 1969, the couple separated as a result of their son’s off-screen death in the Vietnam War. Following the film’s time-traveling finale, Indy returned home to reconcile with Marion (in a callback to Marion tenderly kissing Indy’s wounds in Raiders).

“They wrote this lovely scene that ends the film. It’s the two of us, you feel like we’re going to end up together,” Allen said, adding the series-ending cameo “was not what I hoped.”

“I hoped Marion would be more a part of the final one,” Allen continued. “I just wanted to stand up for the character, not so much myself. But I really felt like Marion deserves better, that’s what I thought.”

In a 2023 interview, Mangold told ABC News that when Lucasfilm approached him to take over from Spielberg, “They were very laser focused on me stepping in. The idea for me was that I wanted to write a script that I could get behind. I wanted to really retool the existing script pretty aggressively, almost entirely.”

Koepp, who retains a writing credit on Dial of Destiny, explained to Den of Geek in 2020 that Mangold replacing Spielberg was “a pretty logical breaking point” for his stepping away from Indy 5.

“It’s a gracious time to step out the door because I think the last thing a new director wants is the old director’s writer. I mean, that’s a drag,” Koepp said. “The last thing you need is some guy sitting around with his arms folded saying, ‘Well, the way Steven would have done it is…’ I had one nice friendly conversation with him and then I’m sure he wanted to be able to move on anyway. Everybody was pretty polite, I thought.”

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is now streaming on Disney+. Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.